Oregon is about 25 miles southwest of Rockford. The town of 3,700 is the only one in the area that doesn’t have an ambulance service funded by property taxes.

Betty Ferris and her husband operated Oregon Ambulance Service. She said the service closed because of the lack of tax support.

Police Chief Darin DeHaan said the area can’t rely on help from neighboring fire departments forever and needs a long-term solution.

With the loss of services, “we can all expect increases in time for an ambulance to respond to emergency calls,” Heller said.

The fire district is asking residents to call an independent, private ambulance (see box) for non-emergency transports. The Ogle County 911 Center is fielding emergency calls, and local ambulance providers are covering Oregon Ambulance Service’s area until a permanent fix is made.

The coverage area is about 120 square miles and comprises Oregon, Chana and the unincorporated communities of Daysville and Paynes Point.

The ambulance service in Mount Morris, for example, is covering emergency needs temporarily for Oregon. The next-closest ambulance services are covering the other communities.

City officials previously discussed whether there’s a need for tax-supported ambulance services. Heller said Oregon Ambulance Service approached the fire district four months ago about possible consolidation or working more closely together.

Heller and DeHaan said they haven’t been bombarded by calls from residents about the change. DeHaan said he saw some confusion on social media among residents concerned that local officials had shut down a city-run ambulance service.

“This was not a city service that folded,” DeHaan said. “This was a private ambulance. Tax funding had not been established to support it.”